By Monwabisi Jimlongo
While he’s happy with the success of Sunday’s tournament where Sivenathi Nontshinga defended his International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-flyweight title against Regie Suganob from the Philippines, Rumble Africa Promotions (RAP) chairman Teris Ntutu came down hard on those who second guessed his promotional outfit in the build-up to the event, which was held at the East London International Convention Centre (ICC).
Ntutu’s wish list had more bouts than the six, which went ahead on Sunday after budgetary constraints forced him to drop some of the bouts from his bill.
“I’m happy and very excited about the success of this tournament. We’ve been trying to make this point to everybody that this is a very important event. We needed this tournament in South Africa. We would like to appreciate the support given to us by the Eastern Cape government, national Minister of Sport Mr Zizi Kodwa and everybody else who assisted us to actually achieve this serious milestone,” Ntutu said.
“We were seriously attacked by many unscrupulous individuals. I mean we were honest about our situation that we could not afford the initial bouts because the budget which was available to us was lesser compared to the liabilities. And then we had to cut some of the bouts as to fit the available budget.
“Some people were just personal towards Rumble Africa Promotions. I think they were not happy that a black promoter like me was going to succeed by promoting this very important fight. I really take serious exception by some of the comments.”
Meanwhile, Ntutu revealed that the money received from the Eastern Cape government and the Department of Sport went straight to the coffers of Boxing South Africa (BSA) and nothing went to RAP’s account.
“There was no budget, we were not paid by TV. We only had the support of the Eastern Cape government and the national Minister and we declared that. Even what was availed to us was deposited to BSA. No money came to us, all of it was deposited to BSA and then to purses. I don’t know why people would attack the credibility of boxing as a sport,” Ntutu concluded.
